


Stay Safe Together (Escape Death Forever)

by moonflowery



Category: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Genre: 10 Cloverfield Lane AU, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, F/F, Fluff and Humor, and the world may or may NOT be ending, basically like the ladies in quarantine together, but IS IT though???, but of course helena and dinah fall in love, helena is confused scared and gay, they are in an underground bunker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:21:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24432025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonflowery/pseuds/moonflowery
Summary: Helena Bertinelli barely remembers her life before tragedy was a big part of it. Her entire family was murdered when she was just a child, and for the longest time she thought it couldn't ever get any worse than that, could it? But one car crash later and her fate, as well as the fate of the entire planet was turned upside down. But was it? She is going to find herself in an unimaginable situation, and wondering if she can trust her new friends, if she'll survive another day, a week or a year, and if it's okay or tremendously wrong to fall in love during an alleged apocalypse.Or, Birds of Prey x 10 Cloverfield Lane AU (but no men are invited to this bunker!)
Relationships: Helena Bertinelli/Dinah Lance
Comments: 98
Kudos: 63





	1. Helena Bertinelli and a brief introduction to tragedy

**Author's Note:**

> This is kind of a 10 Cloverfield Lane AU. That movie where Mary Elizabeth Winstead is just Amazing and I fell in love with her and thought hey what if the birds of prey where in an underground apocalypse bunker????  
> No worries, is not completely necessary At All to watch the movie before reading this! In fact, even better because then I can surprise you by stealing plot twists from the movie lol Also, if you've seen the movie, no worries, no creepy men will make appearances here  
> Title is from the song My Friend by hayley williams

Helena Bertinelli was nine years old when tragedy took over her life, leaving an everlasting mark. She was just a little girl, taller than most, rich, and hopelessly shy, but a little girl nonetheless. She’d avoided a family party in order to attend a friend’s sleepover. She was there when her friend’s parents took her aside and didn’t even dare to give her the news, but dropped her in the hands of the police. Her house had been the subject of arson. Her parents, little brother, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins… all gone. “This happens sometimes with these kinds of families, you know?” an officer had the audacity to say to her, and only after noticing her furious glare he stuttered, “I mean, I- too much money and, and, power, you know?” She _didn’t_. Not back then.

All things considered, it could’ve been worse. She still had family, distant relatives in Sicily but family nonetheless, and they were happy to take her in. Sure, her uncles were a little strange, and oddly secretive with whatever they did for a living, but she could tell they grew to love her. And fuck, she desperately needed to be loved.

Truth be told, she’d already been a bit of an introvert, but growing in near isolation with only three grown men as company didn’t help matters. But that existence had other benefits. The place was beautiful, the food was magnificent, she had a lot of freedom and they taught her a lot. When she was old enough, they taught her a couple of things about her family, their origins, their real business, and what “ _too much money and power_ ” actually meant. She learned a little too much about the Bertinelli business. She also learned that accidents don’t exist and if the Bertinellis were all dead it was because someone wanted them dead. 

At the very least, Helena had a lot to time to adapt to that new knowledge. She was alive, healthy and cared for. She didn’t grow up spoiled by a rich family that unbeknownst to her was a powerful mafia family, but she was spoiled enough, she thought. Being the only little girl, being the only teenage girl, and eventually being the only woman in that house, her uncles treated her like a princess. Funnily enough, they didn’t know how to treat a princess though.

All things considered, Sicily was an idyllic place to grow up in, far more attractive than Gotham, that’s for sure. There were bumps in the road, uncomfortable and difficult moments, but they all tried their best. Helena tried to smile at them once in a while, and they took care of her and taught her a whole universe of things she never imagined she’d learn. This included cooking, several languages, piano, card games and pool, driving a bike, and more. But they also taught her how to fend for herself. At first, it was just any sport her teenage mind wanted to try. Then, they convinced her that hand-on-hand combat was somehow an important sport to master. Finally, if she refrained from asking too many questions, they taught her how to fire a gun, a bow and arrow, and even a crossbow, though she had a feeling she’d never use any of them at all. Not on this life. 

When Helena turned eighteen, she became a millionaire. Since she was the only actual Bertinelli alive, she earned her parent’s money, her grandparents’ money, everyone’s money, the entire Bertinelli fortune was in her hands. The excitement would have made her sick if she’d cared about the money. She _didn’t_. It would take her just a couple more years to figure out what she wanted to do with the money. 

When she was twenty-one, on the anniversary of her family’s murder, she traveled back to Gotham for the first time. She stayed only a few days. She only needed to find enough information to craft a plan. It was convenient that the four men charged for the murder of the Bertinelli family were still in prison, a place where, if you put money in the right hands you could get anything done. Long story short, for the next four years, on the anniversary of the tragedy, Helena traveled back to Gotham. She stayed only a few days each time, and by the time she was on the plane back to Sicily one of the men on her list was long dead and she was breathing a little easier.

The last year was… different. She’d made it. She’d only used a small part of her fortune and now they were all finally dead. She was riding her bike on her way to the airport, but her mind wouldn’t shut up. There was some relief, a sense of pride, and a hint of peace, but that was terrifying for Helena. It wasn’t _enough_. She’d made sure they were all as dead as they could, and should be, and now she was just empty-handed. Revenge didn’t bring her family back. Now she was on her way back to Sicily and she wasn’t even sure why. What would she even do there? But was she actually considering staying in Gotham, that goddamned city that watched her family die?

The troubling emotions and her loud thoughts were starting to give her a headache. She sped up on her bike. Her entire body was tense and under her leather gloves her knuckles would surely be white from how hard she was gripping the handlebars of the bike. She was wearing her helmet, so she couldn’t exactly blame the wind for the tears that were starting to fill her eyes. Perhaps she should stop by the side of the road to collect her emotions and get her shit together. Perhaps she should drive faster, she decided instead. Carefully, she let go of one the handles of the bike and buried her hand on one of her pockets, holding on tightly to the purple toy car she always carried with her, especially on these yearly visits to Gotham. She held it as tight as she could. If she closed her eyes even for a brief second she could still picture her little brother…

The crash was unexpected and horrible. The impact of it sent Helena flying away from the road and down the side of a hill. Before she passed out, she had enough time to consider the irony of dying on the anniversary of her family’s death. Or the way perhaps it made perfect sense for her to finally rest in peace with them now that she’d gotten her revenge. Finally, she’d find the death she’d escaped all those years ago. Finally, she’ll see her family again. That was her last thought before she went unconscious. If a few minutes later the world started to collapse, if there had been a strange spark of lighting in the sky, if humans had been consumed by panic, or terror, a disease or an enemy, Helena wouldn’t have known. If none of that had happened, absolutely nothing at all, and all she’d missed were the headlights of a car stopping by her crashed bike and someone finding her barely alive down there, she wouldn’t have known either. All she knew for a while was complete and absolute darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!!  
> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think so far  
> You can find me on tumblr @afterlaughy and please message me any time


	2. Helena fights for her life... unnecessarily?

Helena woke up and the pain was instantaneous, followed by panic. Her head hurt, her leg hurt, and she couldn't recognize the room she was in. This wasn't her familiar and comfortable room in her uncle’s house in Sicily. This wasn't a nondescript hotel room in Gotham. This wasn't any place she willingly would find herself in. It was a small room, almost completely barren, and the walls were halfway painted pink. There were two lamps on one wall and on one corner there was a pile of objects she didn't focus on yet. Instead, she looked at her body. Her attention was snatched immediately by a light sting on her arm. She was connected to an IV and she had no idea how that could've happened, so she yanked it off her arm. 

Helena then realized she was on a soft surface, a thin mattress, and covered by a blanket that she immediately threw off her body, terrified of what she might reveal, and with good reason. She'd lost her jacket but was still wearing a white tank top. Her pants, however, were not on her. She was just in her underwear. That, combined with her situation was already frightening enough. But then she studied the strange thing on her right leg. The source of the pain on her leg was covered by a sort of brace she had no idea how she got. It got even worse though, a pair of handcuffs were linked to her brace and to a tube on her wall. She was trapped. A sort of whine got stuck in her throat caused by pure and absolute fear she hadn't felt in so many years.

Questions were overflowing Helena's mind, worsening her headache. _How, why, who, where_. This didn't make sense, this was unthinkable, and she immediately feared she was in the worst of situations. Feeling helpless, she covered her face with her hands and tried to focus on breathing. This, however, brought a sting to her attention. She pulled back her hands and found a spot of blood on her fingers. She carefully touched her forehead until she found the source of the pain, a small wound with mostly dried blood. The sight of it woke up her senses. She felt her survival instincts fire up and she was surprised to find out she did not want to die, she didn't want to rest in peace, at least not yet, at least not by someone else's choice. It was time to fight. It was time to escape. 

Helena tried and tried to break free from the handcuffs linking her to the wall but it was useless and her leg started to hurt too badly. She looked over at the object in a corner of the room and recognized her bag, her pants, and phone. Feeling a spark of hope she lunged for it but again, it was useless, she couldn't reach. Desperate, and knowing the smartest thing probably was to hurry, she looked around for an answer. She didn't know if this would have been part of the training that a mafia princess would have been prepared with, but with her eccentric uncles she'd learned a thing or two and she was ready to put it all to good use.

In a swift movement, Helena grabbed the stand where her IV was, brought it to its maximum length, and moving as far as she could she used it to reach her phone. It wasn't easy, she could barely touch it, but it was enough, it had to be. Slowly but surely she managed to pull it towards herself until she got it. That small achievement reenergized her, it was hope, it was a reason to ignore the pain in her body. However... no signal. Her phone had absolutely no service, no if she kneeled, tried to stand up, and extended her arm toward the ceiling. _Nothing._

Helena's rage made a surprise appearance and in an instant, she threw her phone toward the wall. She couldn't even focus on the small pleasure of watching the little thing break into pieces, because a second later the only door to that small room opened up.

"All good over here?" a woman walked in. She looked short, had shoulder-length brown hair, some accent, and although she looked serious there was an underlying kindness in her inquisitive features and playful tone that didn't frighten Helena. 

Helena would be lying if she said she wasn't mostly expecting to see a creepy, unsettling, frightening man to walk through that door. But she was smart enough to remain alert and cautious. She sat down and pulled the blanket over her body again and sat with her back against the wall, as far away from this stranger as possible. She tried to think of something to say, but words weren't her strong suit so she stayed silent for now.

"You really needed that IV, you know?" the woman said, and walked forward and forward, making Helena flinch. She leaned down and placed a small plastic cup with pills on the mattress. "Painkillers," was all she said for an explanation, but it didn't convince Helena.

The stranger turned and walked away, and that's when Helena finally spoke up. "Let me go... please," it wasn't exactly what she wanted to say but she wasn't exactly in a position to make demands or pick up a fight. "I won't tell anybody I swear... Just - _please_."

The woman stopped by the door and chuckled, “There won’t be anybody you can tell.” Before Helena could even begin to try to make sense of those words, the woman picked something from out there and came back in. First, it was a pair of crutches that she left on the floor. Then she brought in a tray of food. "You should eat," she said, in the same matter-of-factly tone that didn't hint at all to Helena if she should be more scared or relaxed or anything else. She placed the tray with food on the floor in front of Helena. Among the food, there was a key on the side. "Careful with moving that leg, alright?"

Before Helena could think of something else to say, the woman was gone, the door locked, and her confusion had grown slightly more than her fear, but just _slightly_.

* * *

The overall situation was so strange that Helena didn’t even want to waste time trying to understand what was going on. She was a woman of action. The first thing she did was free her leg from the handcuffs, but kept the brace because it did genuinely hurt. With some struggle, she put on her pants and immediately felt a little better, a little safer. She didn't trust the food at all, even if her mouth watered at the sight of it. But her eyes immediately were drawn to the knife on the tray and the wooden crutches on the ground.

She got to work, and she worked quickly. Plenty of times she had gone camping with her uncles, she'd chopped wood, she'd learned how to make torches, arrows and to start a fire. In record time she had sharpened the end of one of the crutches until she was satisfied it was sharp enough to harm somebody. Afterward, and with some difficulty, she got up and walked to the other side of the room, beside the door, and pointed her handmade weapon at it. Then it was just a matter of waiting.

Helena was good at waiting, when she had to, but not on this occasion, not when she could do _more_. She looked around, considered her options, and once again got to work. For the first time in her life, Helena was grateful for the bad habit of smoking, and carrying a pack of matches. She pulled one of the pillow sheets, used one of the last two matches, and set it on fire. With one of her crutches, she pushed it into the ventilation and watched the smoke rapidly spread. Now she could wait, and she wouldn't have to wait for long.

Just a minute later the door of the room slammed open and the stranger rushed in, alarmed. Now, Helena knew what she _had_ to do. Perhaps if she'd been treated unkindly, if she'd been given just one more reason to be wary, furious or terrified, if it had been a perverted man like Helena had been fearing, she would have aimed for the neck. But when the woman ran into the room, she couldn’t do it. She hit her in the shoulder and dropped the weapon, ready to run. The woman stumbled back and cursed in pain. At this point, Helena firmly believed she would have been perfectly able to escape from her and that room… _if_ it weren't for the other women there.

"Whoa, whoa, what the fuck!" the second woman exclaimed as she rushed in just in time to knock Helena down

"You motherfucker," they heard the first woman mumble as she made a move to go attack Helena. However, her friend stopped her, giving Helena enough time to kick her with her good leg, knocking her down. If her other leg wasn't injured and she'd been able to get up quickly, she _knew_ she'd made it out. But instead, she staggered up and stumbled, giving the first women enough time to knock her down again. Helena was aware that the odds were against her, but she was ready to put up a fight. At least, she _had_ been ready… until another woman showed up at the door, and behind her, a young girl.

"The hell is going on here?!" the third woman asked with a voice that was uncomfortably shrill to Helena's ears.

Helena was tired, hurt, scared, and outnumbered. This time, she stayed in the ground, looking up at the group of women that kidnapped her, and feeling the most lost she'd felt for the second time in her life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be pretty honest here, I Will try to do some stuff just like the movie, but it is a pretty loosely based AU. so from this point on, it'll be mostly just humor, fluff, some falling in love, and of course some tension to keep things interesting!  
> thank you so much for reading, please leave a comment if you like!


	3. Introducing Renee, Dinah, and an emotional breakdown

In the end, Helena was left alone, again. There was a silent agreement that it was best for all of them to cool down before any more interactions. So, Helena crawled back to the mattress because it was better than the floor. She laid down because she was truthfully exhausted. She even tried to think of new plans to escape. She thought of kicking down the door, making a hole through the wall, starting another fire, flying through the roof… maybe she fell asleep thinking.

The next time Helena woke up, it was because of a knock on the door. _That’s prudent_ , Helena thought, _good_.

“We come in peace,” a sweet and playful voice said.

Then walked in the woman Helena first met, and then the second one, that she had kicked. The second was quite different from the first one, with a great mane of hair, and an easy smile that was a stark contrast to the frown of her friend.

“Hello,” she continued, “My name is Dinah, this is my friend Renee, and I think we started off on the wrong foot, yeah? Though that’s kind of a _massive_ understatement.” She chuckled, and Helena cursed the fact that she instantly liked that sound.

The first woman- _Renee_ dragged in a chair and sat down in the middle of the room, staring at Helena, still just frowning.

“Okay…” Dinah continued talking over the uncomfortable silence, “Renee mentioned she might have failed to mention a few key details on why you’re here?”

“She didn’t tell me shit.”

“I saved your life!”

“You kidnapped me!”

“You ungrateful, uncivilized, son of a-”

“ _Okay!_ ” Dinah interrupted, “Can we all just calm down for a second? Renee, be reasonable. It makes sense she freaked out. Just, explain, okay? How did you find her?”

There was a beat of silence. Helena got to take a look at the bandage peeking from the collar of Renee’s shirt. She couldn’t feel embarrassed, she was proud. Though she didn’t feel half as good about the gun she noticed was on Renee’s waist.

“I was driving home, I was in a hurry, but I watched the moment you crashed. It was bad,” Renee explained, finally bringing a vague recollection of the events to Helena’s mind. “I really, _really_ didn’t want to stop but… I couldn’t do it. I went down there, I brought you back here, saved your life. Then you attacked me like a madwoman. End of story.”

Helena gave a loud scoff. “You locked me in here and fucking handcuffed be to the wall!” Then she proceeded to throw the handcuffs right at Renee, who easily caught them, but the point was made. “Maybe you shouldn’t have given me the keys.”

Renee and Dinah both knew they could hold their ground in a fight, even more than most people. But they had also seen what this woman was capable of off, even while weak, hurt, and with one leg badly wounded. They were usually good at keeping fear unnoticeable in their eyes, but Helena was even better at noticing just that. Her threat was effective, for a moment.

“Maybe I should have left you there to die,” Renee said slowly.

“Maybe!” Helena exclaimed, never good at keeping her anger at bay, she even jumped from her place on the floor to a standing position, ignoring the pain burning on her leg. “Or, I don’t know, called a fucking ambulance?! The police? Take me to a hospital? What the fuck am I doing here?!”

To Helena’s surprise, Renee laughed. “Maybe I should let you leave now, huh?”

“Yes!” Helena exclaimed.

And at exactly the same time Dinah said, “No!”

“ _No?_ ” Helena repeated, confused, since she had the impression the younger woman wasn’t crazy, not more than the other one. “Why the fuck not?”

“Because…”

“There’s nowhere to go,” Renee finished for her, and kept going, before she could be interrupted. “There’s been an attack. A big one. I’m not sure yet if it’s chemical or nuclear, but down here we’re safe.”

“And where are we exactly?” Helena asked, trying to keep calm even though her brain was turning into a mess. She sat down on the mattress again, angrily looking up at the women in front of her.

“Enough feet underground,” Renee replied. “Luckily, I prepared for this.”

“Luckily…” Helena mumbled angrily, “Well, surely you can take me to a hospital now?”

Renee explained, not any happily, “You can’t leave. An attack means fallout. Which contaminates the air above ground.”

“How long do we have to wait until it’s safe?” Helena asked, because it seemed like the right thing to do, not because she was completely convinced of the truthfulness of what she was hearing.

“Depends on the proximity of the closest blast,” Renee answered, “One year, maybe two.”

“ _Are you fucking kidding me-_ ”

“And that’s if we’re talking about weapons that we know of,” Renee continued, undisturbed, “Russians are developing some nasty stuff. And if the Aliens finally figured out a way to get here, their weapons will make the Russians look like sticks and stones.”

“Right,” Helena said, through gritted teeth. She didn’t have time to deal with any bullshit from one more of Gotham’s crazy people, she just needed to figure out a way to get out of that place. “Well, I’ll need to use your phone, then. To call my- uh, family, and tell them that I’m safe here. And make sure they’re okay.”

Both Renee and Dinah sighed then, not meeting Helena’s eyes. “They’re not okay.”

“How do you know that?”

“Everyone outside of here is dead,” Renee replied, and although her voice was strong, her expression betrayed her.

That was the one sentence that finally got to Helena. The words that broke her. Because it wasn’t the first time she’d heard something like that. She was sitting on the mattress, her knees bent and her forearms resting on them. She tensed, she felt something inside her freeze, and suddenly breathing didn’t seem so easy anymore. She had no reason to believe these women, no reason at all. This could all be a lie. But what a fucked up lie that would be. Helena let her head fall down and rest on her arms, she couldn’t say anything else, not now.

“Maybe we should give her some space,” Dinah whispered to Renee.

As they were standing up, a loud crash was heard from outside that room. Renee cursed under her breath and said, “Excuse me,” quickly leaving the room.

That noise made Helena tense again. Was it hope? Was it something worse? She didn’t have the strength to try and find out. She heard Dinah start to walk away.

“Hey, we didn’t catch your name,” Dinah said softly, standing by the door.

That voice was so sweet, she sounded so genuine.

“Helena,” she replied.

“Nice to meet you.” How was it possible that one could hear Dinah’s _smile_ on a simple sentence even without looking? That was a genuine wonder.

Dinah was leaving, she was closing the door. Helena wasn’t thinking very clearly, even more weak, confused, and hungry than ever. So, and maybe just for the sake of knowing that she could also surprise these strangers, if only a little bit, she added, “Helena Bertinelli.”

Her last name had the effect of a rare curse or maybe a forbidden code word. The shock was clear as day in Dinah’s face. “Oh my God,” she whispered, and because she didn’t know what else to do, she closed the door.

Alone, once again, and for the first time in there making the connection back to that day in her childhood when she was truly and completely alone in the world, Helena laid down again. Her mind was teetering on the edge of being completely blank and numb, or tripping down to the darkest, most troubled corner of her memories. Making the choice herself, Helena looked beside her, the little plastic cup with painkillers was still there. She took all of them, and this time, she didn’t fight the sleep that overtook her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i might take actual lines from the movie, i might completely ignore the movie, these are just gals being pals during the apocalipse
> 
> thank you so much for reading! let me know what you think?


	4. Resurrected local legend meets doctor/convicted felon

Helena went in and out of sleep a handful of times. Once, she was too sleepy to even open her eyes, but she was convinced the women were at her door, talking. Twice, she’d heard in the background a laugh, some random noises, maybe even music, close to her but it felt impossible far away. One time, and so clearly it almost got her the strength to finally get up, she opened her eyes enough to stare at the ceiling and very clearly hear the unmistakable noise of a car driving by, right above her head. Then she fell asleep again.

Finally, and because she was embarrassed by a noise coming from her own body, maybe a noise, maybe her stomach rumbling after so long without food, Helena stayed awake. She didn’t feel completely back to her full potential yet, not even nearly, but she knew she could get up and move. She was mildly surprised at seeing the door of her room open, and she didn’t hesitate to leave, except for the difficulty of getting used to walking with a crutch, since her leg still had some time to go before healing. The sound of music coming from somewhere near was strange and unexpected, but she followed it.

The second she was out of her room a loud noise startled her. She was in a hallway, there were rows of shelves on each side, full of food and all kinds of things she didn’t have time to repair on, because from one of them poked out a head.

“Hey! You’re the new girl!” said a completely new woman, she was way too pale, had blonde hair with dyed tips, and a large smile. “Nice to meet ya, Crossbow killer.”

“What did you just call me?” Helena whispered, looking around them nervously.

“Oh, I _know_ what you’ve been up to these years. I have friends in every prison of Gotham. Not any guard though. Just the criminals, my buddies.”

“I’m not- How did you-” Helena stuttered, and that only added to her rage.

“I connected the dots, I’m smart. I’m a doctor!” the woman smiled, “Harley Quinn, nice to meet ya.”

“Do not take the credit for my investigation, Quinn.”

That was Renee, arriving at the other end of the hallway. “Care to join us?” she asked the two of them and walked away.

Harley proceeded to contort herself in strange ways and jump over the shelves in order to get out of the one she had been hiding behind. “Renee told us she didn’t have more beds than hers. Canary and the kid took the sofas so you and I got stuck with these dumb mattresses on the ground,” Harley explained, waving at the space where apparently she had been sleeping in. “At least you got a door. A scary door, but still got a door.”

“What’s that?” Helena pointed at Harley’s shoulder, where a seemingly nasty wound was covered with a bandage. The questions _Are we safe? Were you trying to escape?_ died on Helena’s throat when she saw Harley begin to laugh.

“My bad!” the woman shrugged, “I don’t like being locked down here. I got restless and accidentally knocked a whole shelf of food while innocently stretching a bit. Don’t mention it to the cop, she’s still a sore-butt about it, says we’ll starve because of me. Can you believe it?”

At this point, Helena decided to accept she’d have to live with the fact that every time Harley spoke she’d hear way more than expected and would only be able to understand about half of the information. So far she understood that Harley was supposedly a doctor, Renee a cop that investigated her, they had a canary, and also a kid.

Helena followed Harley up some steps and found herself in the last place she thought she’d be after the events she’d just gone through… a seemingly perfectly normal room.

There was a genuinely cozy-looking living room, a kitchen area, an actual jukebox, a few shelves, and more. By “more”, Helena meant Dinah, lounging on a sofa with a book on her lap, a kid beside her, not taking her eyes off the television, and Renee approaching them from the kitchen.

“Okay,” Renee sighed heavily, but when she looked up, she seemed slightly, _slightly_ less stressed for the first time. “So, this is where we stand. I… build this place, some time ago, and worked on it for years, preparing for chaos that I knew was imminent. Originally, I planned to come here for safety when the time came, I would bring my… ex-girlfriend with me, and… Long story short, they’re not here. Instead, it just so happened that I got stuck with… Let me see… a seemingly resurrected local legend on a bad mood, a convicted felon that broke in and brought a kid just so I couldn't say no, and the way too kind daughter of my way too kind late best friend that’s the only thing keeping me from throwing half of you out to the deadly toxic streets outside… Who wants a tour of the place?”

To her credit, Renee smiled at the end. And didn’t wait for an answer.

“This is the common area. The aquaponic system keeps the air fresh,” Renee signaled to a small tank of water with a few fish in it, a perfectly reasonable explanation for a question the others hadn’t asked yet and that none of them understood very well. “This is the living room, help yourself to any reading. If you like to watch films, I have plenty. Just make sure you put them back when you’re done. The kitchen's fully functional. Has an electric stove, refrigerator, freezer, silverware, And that table is a family heirloom, which means watch your glasses. And… speaking of glasses…”

Renee moved to the kitchen and started preparing herself a drink, as she finished what she had to say.

“About the bathroom, there’s only one so… we should probably come up with a system to…” She took a sip of her drink. “About our food, there’s enough… I think. We should take turns cooking, maybe? I…” She took a larger gulp of the drink. “Goddaminit, isn’t this fucked up?”

Renee finished her drink and stared at the empty glass on the counter in front of her. It looked like she was the only one that was prepared for an event like this. But there was no way to emotionally prepare yourself. She couldn’t deny the weight that she’d felt on her shoulders since this all started. She felt angry, frustrated, helpless, and weak. And she wasn’t used to most of those emotions.

There were many ways this could have gone. Somebody else could have refused to let them in, share their food, their safety. Somebody else could have taken advantage of the others’ helplessness or desperation. Hell, they could have found a creepy old man with hidden intentions that they’d never know if they could trust or not. But, the truth is, they found Renee Montoya. She was fearless, and she believed in justice, but she was also human, kind, and as troubled as the women in front of her.

It was Harley who spoke next.

“Hey,” she whispered, “Montoya… Montoya…”

“ _What_ , Harley?” Renee grumbled.

Harley grinned and shyly pushed an empty glass in Renee’s direction. “Do you know what always helps me cope with the apocalypse?” If possible, Harley’s smile grew, “Sharing my drinks with friends!”

That seemed to effectively break the ice, and the other women in the room chuckled and walked closer to her. Renee looked genuinely relieved. As she started to serve the drinks the others could see her defenses lowering. She didn’t have to play a part with them. She didn’t have to be tough, strong, or intimidating. What mattered was to stay alive, and they might need each other for that. 

“This is your first apocalypse, dumbass,” the kid spoke for the first time, approaching Harley.

“You don’t know where I’ve been!” Harley waved her off, staring at the drinks Renee was pouring for them.

“And Cass can’t drink,” Dinah joined in, playfully shoving the kid, unknowingly helping Helena with learning the name.

“I mean, technically speaking she _could_ …” Harley shrugged.

“And we are not friends.”

Helena blurted the words, because everyone was saying something and she felt maybe she had to say something too. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing to do, because now all eyes were on her, which made her uneasy. But she stood by her words.

Helena might have expected a negative reaction from the eclectic group of strangers around her. Instead, Harley offered her a glass, and a smile, “Not yet,” she said, holding up a finger. “Oh! Should we make a toast?”

When it looked like the others were just about to follow the lead of a woman that a few minutes ago was literally described as a convicted felon, Helena had to speak up again.

“Wait,” she held up a hand and stared at the others very seriously, “So are we seriously believing that end of the world bullshit story?”

There was a moment of silence while everyone exchanged looks with each other. There was definitely _a lot_ more they had to talk about, but they could agree it’d be easier after the drink. 

Renee raised her glass and said, “To the end of the world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> I am sooo sorry this took so long! I promise to try to update sooner. As well as on the vampire au. but thank you sooo much to anyone reading! please let me know what you think?  
> Also, if anyone has watched The Old Guard on Netflix and is just in love with Charlize Theron's very gay character, I wrote a one-shot about it, I have more coming, and you are so welcome to come scream with me about it  
> find me on tumblr @afterlaughy


	5. to-do: revenge, apocalypse, pasta, movies

To say dinner was an awkward experience, that would have been an understatement. There was the kid, Cass, who dove into the plate of pasta with shocking eagerness. When Renee opened her mouth, ready to say something about it, she caught sight of Harley, eating even more furiously and messily. 

“Harley, gross!” Dinah commented first, and Harley just flipped her off.

Then Renee noticed her other guest, “Do you have a problem with the dinner?”

Helena, suddenly caught, gave a start. “ _No!_ No, of course not,” she mumbled, just then picking up her fork.

Making an effort to swallow her food, Harley waved her fork in Helena’s direction and said, “I smell a pasta snob.”

“I’m _not_ a pasta snob!” Helena tried to defend herself, took a big bite of the food and mumbled with her mouth full, “I’m just-”

“Italian?” Harley perked up with a smile, “Is that what you were going to say, are you Italian?”

Before Helena could fight it, Renee picked up after Harley, “Is that were you were, in Italy?” she asked, “Is that where you go to, after sneakily getting a big name of Gotham’s crime murdered?”

Defeated, Helena sighed, “Sicily,” she mumbled grumpily, picking up of the past she wasn’t even silently judging _that_ hard, “I live in Sicily.”

“I’ve heard it’s beautiful.”

Those words came from Dinah. They sounded soft, they were so kind, and the shock of those emotions directed at her made Helena’s head snap around to stare at her with wide eyes. Her brain tried to trick her into considering the possibility of Dinah making fun of her, but the gentle smile on the woman’s face left no room for doubts. Unsure of how to react, Helena smiled, or at least tried to. Her big grin came out awkwardly, and her mouth was still full, and the mess she was made Dinah chuckle at her. The others rolled their eyes, but Helena didn’t notice, she was so focused on the beautiful sound of Dinah’s laugh that she didn’t even have the time to consider her embarrassment or realize she was blushing.

A moment of silence passed, but Renee was curious. After devoting so much time in the police force investigating, not only the Bertinelli massacre but also a few of yearly murders that take place in Gotham’s prisons, now they turned out to be work of the last survivor of the Bertinelli family, just as Renee had predicted and nobody had listened. “Why Sicily?” Renee had to ask.

“Family,” Helena replied in a monotonous voice, because she saw no use in putting up a fight or attempting lies that she was terrible at, “Distant relatives but, the last family I had.”

“Why?” Cass asked. Her mouth was full too, and Renee was starting to worry about having to teach manners to everyone there.

Harley turned toward the kid with a shocked expression. “Oh my God, I forgot you are a baby! You don’t know about the Bertinelli massacre?”

“No,” Cass shrugged, barely interested, “Sounds like a shitty movie.”

“It _was_ ,” Helena grumbled, as she attacked her plate with a little too much force.

“It was a tragedy,” Dinah tried to amend with a gentle voice.

“It was a crime,” Renee explained, matter-of-factly, “Fifteen years ago, the biggest mafia families in Gotham were at war. A handful of the second to biggest names got together and, well, they eliminated the number ones, the Bertinelli’s, all but one of them were found dead when their mansion was burned down. Helena, she was the sole survivor.”

“Lucky me,” Helena grumbled once more as she continued to stab the pasta on her plate.

“Uh, yeah?” Harley tilted her head, “You don’t think so?”

“I lost everything!” Helena replied, finally letting go of her fork, “The only reason I wanted to live was to make sure I got my revenge, I finally got it yesterday, and now-”

“The apocalypse,” Harley smiled. Her large grin was a bit unsettling, but her eyes couldn’t help but appear sad and sympathetic.

“No!” Helena jumped off her chair, making the silverware rattle on the table at her outburst. “You know what? I don’t _believe_ it. Why should we believe it?!”

Although both Harley and Dinah opened their mouths to attempt an explanation (Cass only took the opportunity to try and steal a meatball from Harley’s plate, and nearly getting her hand stabbed with a fork), it was Renee who spoke up.

“Helena,” she said firmly, getting the woman to look at her, “Before you try some complicated and honestly suicidal plan of escape, because I can just tell you are _exactly_ the type to do that,” Renee continued and stood up, “Let me show you something, okay? If it doesn’t convince you, you can leave at your own risk.”

The honestly painful reminder of her loss had rattled Helena, she was breathing heavily and she felt she had to cry or break something immediately, perhaps beat down somebody. Instead, she had to find inside her the strength to nod at the woman she just met, and follow her out of the comfort of the cozy living room and up a set of honestly sketchy-looking stairs. 

Helena’s heart started to speed up when she saw the door, and she had to hold back a smile when she heard keys rattle as Renee pulled them out. It would be so easy, to knock her over, take the keys, and escape. But then Renee opened the first door, and stopped. There was another short bit of hallway and then another door. Helena was a second away from executing her plan when Renee said, “Take a look,” she tilted her head toward the last door that separated them from the rest of the world. There was a small window in it, and curious, Helena approached it.

At first, she saw nothing of great importance. The empty streets of the outskirts of Gotham. But then, then there was the most horrible image Helena could remember seeing in so long (not that long, because she had visited every Gotham’s prison and lived worse tragedies, but it was a shocking image still). It was a group of pigs, laying dead just outside and to the left of the door. And they were not just dead, they looked torn apart, destroyed, as if they had been eaten from the inside out, or dropped into acid, and then eaten again.

First, Helena felt nauseous. Then, she looked back at Renee and asked, “Why the _fuck_ did you have pigs in here?!”

Harley’s overly loud laugh was heard all over the bunker. The others had followed them and stayed at the bottom of the stairs, observing them, all equally as tense. But now, the tension had dissipated. There was the ghost of a laugh in Dinah’s voice too, when she called out to Helena, “Hey, Bertinelli, we are watching a movie! Care to join us?”

Only Renee was there, close enough to notice the upward tilt of Helena’s lips. She sighed, and looked seriously at the younger woman. “Listen, kid, I didn’t want any of you here with me any more than you want to be locked down here with us,” Renee explained, as Helena attentively stared at her, “But it’s _true_. We don’t know what happened out there, but we know it’s not _safe_. I genuinely don’t think you’ll live if you walk out that door.” There was a beat of silence as Helena looked at the door and then back at the woman standing in front of her. “I don’t want to be responsible for the death of the last of the Bertinelli’s by letting her dumb ass walk out into a highly toxic atmosphere. You know what I want? I want to go watch a stupid movie with a group of people I never thought I’d watch a movie with. What do you say?”

Helena frowned, “Do you only have stupid movies? Can’t we watch a good one?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!
> 
> comments are always appreciated :)


	6. Most Overwhelming Conversation in Helena's life

When the movie ended, none of the women made a move to leave their comfortable places on the sofas. On one of them were Helena, Dinah, and Renee, and on the other was Harley, with a deeply asleep Cass sprawled half on the couch and half on top of Harley.

“Who knew Harley Quinn would turn out to be a big softie for a kid,” Dinah was the first one to speak, wearing a playful smirk on her lips.

“Oh shut up, Canary,” Harley flipped her off, and vaguely waved a hand in the space between her and Cass, “ _This?_ This is a strictly business relationship. The kid is my apprentice!” She grinned proudly.

Renee scoffed, “Seriously? So basically the apocalypse wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened to her.”

“I give her two weeks before she slips up and calls you mom,” Dinah continued to tease her.

Harley acted outrageously offended at the comments, loudly gasping and placing the palm of her hand over her heart. “Well, then I give her a week before she starts calling Renee grandma!”

“Fuck off, Quinn,” Renee laughed, but her attention was stolen by Helena. They were all looking at her, since that last joke finally pulled a laugh from her.

They were quiet for a moment until Dinah, who was sitting beside Helena, smiled softly and asked, “How’s your leg?”

“Oh! Good, um, _better_. Thanks,” Helena stuttered, and looked down at her leg, as if she had forgotten it was hurt at all. “Thank you,” she repeated, this time purposefully staring at Renee, who had stopped the movie halfway through to get Helena the painkillers she was supposed to take. Renee smiled and raised the bottle of beer she was drinking in acknowledgment.

“So… what now?” Harley asked them with a smile. After dismissing Renee’s suggestion of going to sleep, and insisting that Cass’ slumber wouldn’t be disturbed not even by a second apocalypse, Harley grinned a little mischievously and said, “Let’s all get to know each other a little better, shall we? Let’s see… Dinah! Why don’t you tell Helena a little more about yourself?”

While Harley watched with a clearly entertained expression, and Helena blushed profusely, Dinah frowned and replied, “ _Sure…_ ” apparently, unlike Harley, she hadn’t noticed the lingering looks Helena had been throwing her way the entire night. “Well, I… I guess you could say I was a singer before, you know, this whole mess. That’s how I know our friend Harley over here, because she’s always drunk out of her mind at the club where I work.”

“Stop flirting, Canary!” Harley forced a laugh and waved her off, “I’m not looking for a relationship, right now. It’s a whole thing about a break up with a psychiatric patient. But _are you_? Not a psychiatric patient, I mean are you looking for a relationship?”

Dinah shook her head amusedly, choosing to ignore her and then turned back toward a very confused Helena and explained, “Don’t ask about her love life unless you want to be disturbed for an hour or two. Also, that’s my stage name, _Black Canary_.”

Before Helena got a chance to compliment the name, Renee intervened in the conversation. “Coincidentally, Harley being drunk and getting in trouble is also the reason we know each other,” she spoke with mocking affection, and then dropped it to add, “I’ve arrested the _three_ of them before.” That surprised Helena.

“Come on!” Dinah tried to fight it, “that was just once! It wasn’t even my party, I was just singing there. Besides, you knew my mom, Montoya!” Again, Dinah looked back at Helena to explain, “Renee and my mom were close friends. After I… lost my mom, Renee always kept an eye on me,” Dinah smiled sadly, and Helena was a little shocked to recognize in that unfamiliar pair of eyes some emotions she was well acquainted with. Then Dinah’s smile quickly recovered its brightness, showing off her dimples, “But then I grew up, and Renee did the exact _opposite_ , so now it’s me who keeps an eye on her.

“Hey, watch your mouth, it’s still _my_ bunker,” Renee grumbled, trying to mask her sincere affection for the younger woman.

Harley slowly raised her hand and pulled a guilty grimace, “Okay, I _did_ get arrested for real, once or twice.”

“Yeah, each month!” Renee laughed.

Harley rolled her eyes, dismissing that comment, and instead argued in favor of Cass. “You can’t say you’ve arrested the kid though! Shoplifting is hardly a crime anymore, come on.”

The other three women simultaneously made a doubtful noise. “No, I think it is,” “Yeah, pretty sure it’s still a crime,” “It is illegal, and also not the only charge against her!” 

In response, Harley threw her head back laughing, “Okay, okay, you got me there, ladies. But hey! Look on the bright side, yeah? She really is doing much better with me than with those shitty foster parents from Dinah’s building.”

Dinah hummed in agreement and looked thoughtful for a second, “Yeah, I guess I’ll have to agree with you on that one.” When she turned to Helena once more, there was fondness in her eyes, but traces of unpleasant memories, “Cass is a good kid, deep down she really is. She was my neighbor but, sort of unlucky in the parents’ department.”

“Aren’t we all,” Harley chuckled, raising her own drink, and they all followed along in silent agreement.

After a while, Helena finally mumbled out something, “So, you all knew each other?”

“Oh, there’s no need to feel insecure about it at all, doll!” Harley waved her off, but sent a sincere smile her way, “We are a very welcoming family.”

“Family?” Renee scoffed, “Harley, should I remind you, you broke in here?” 

While Renee and Harley started a small argument, Dinah whispered to Helena, “Renee told me about this bunker years ago, and let me know I was welcomed if I ever needed it. I was grateful, _and_ I thought she was crazy. But look at us now.” She smiled, and her smile grew when she saw the other woman return the gesture.

During a small pause in the argument surrounding her, Helena seized the opportunity to ask Harley, “Why would you do that? Break-in here, I mean.” Harley stopped mid-sentence. Up until that moment, she had carried the argument playfully, just messing with Renee, but something about Helena’s genuine curiosity knocked down her walls.

Harley sighed and slumped on the sofa, looking as serious as she was capable of for the first time that night, “It was for the kid, okay? We haven’t even known each other that long but I feel sort of responsible for the little shit.” As she continued with her explanation, Harley, as usual, went through a whole rollercoaster of emotions, thoughts, hand gestures, and facial expressions. “When I realized that something was wrong, and I mean seriously, mind-fuckingly _wrong_ , not the usual kind of Gotham’s wrong, then, I thought shit, I can’t… I mean, I’m no coward, I would fight aliens, a demon, maybe God, or, oh! Even those ugly ass monsters that live at the bottom of the ocean, you know the ones. But, where was I? Oh yeah! I could do that, if I was by myself, you know? But Cass… I couldn’t risk her. And this sounded like the _safest_ place I’ve ever overheard about while I was being arrested.”

There was a brief pause, until Helena couldn’t help herself, “That’s… a lot of words,” she said. There was a confused frown on her face that Dinah found absolutely adorable. Harley laughed at the woman’s overwhelmed reaction to her words.

Renee tried to mask how amused she was by saying, “That was very sweet, Harley, except you missed the part where instead of dropping the kid here you kicked down my door and pointed at me with a gun to let you in.”

The group all laughed at that, and Harley added, “Come on! You guys would have _died_ of boredom here if it wasn’t for me!”

Just then, Cass’ snores were briefly interrupted by a groan, and some words slurred by her sleepy state, “Harley, I love you too, asshole, now can you please shut up?”

Harley smiled proudly, affectionately, but she still was _the_ Harley Quinn, so she leaned down near Cass’ face and yelled an annoyingly loud, “Okay!!”

While the two of them sorted that out, Renee and Dinah stood up from the couch, followed by Helena. Apparently that was the cue for their time to sleep. Helena hesitated though, before going back to that improvised new room of hers that she wasn’t even looking forward to. She looked helplessly at Dinah, who had been so patient and kind and beautiful the entire night.

“So, you guys aren’t telling me why exactly are you so sure the world ended?” Helena tilted her head questioningly.

Dinah smiled brightly and comfortingly patted Helena’s arm, “Maybe tomorrow, Helena. We have time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading!!
> 
> i hope you liked it, i tried my best to not take that long to update for once lol
> 
> i Think that for a few chapters or like almost until the end, this will step away considerably from the movie except for some references here and there. i'm not totally sure bc i don't really have it all planned but the end. but you know, it's less about the is this safe or not vibe of the movie and more about the women being sweetly chaotic together vibe of birds of prey! i hope you guys will like it
> 
> again, thank so much for reading, comments are always appreciated :)


	7. Totally not flirting

Helena didn’t wake up in a good mood, but that wasn’t strange. She woke up in a sketchy room inside an underground, apocalypse bunker, and the fact that apparently that wasn’t strange for her anymore, _that_ was the reason for her bad mood. She just sat there on the mattress on the ground for a long time, lost in her thoughts, until a knock on her door got her attention.

“Mornin’” Dinah smiled, almost making Helena gasp because how could a smile be so bright and beautiful in the apocalypse. “Can I sit?” Dinah asked, pointing at the mattress. Helena soundlessly nodded a few times. Before she could figure out something to say Dinah was already sitting beside her, making it harder for her to think, and observing her, making it harder for her to breath. “How are you feeling?” Dinah finally asked.

“ _Uhh…_ ” Helena tried to say something, god damn it she really tried, but there was nothing there.

Dinah’s chuckle saved her from further embarrassment, “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“Does it?” Helena asked, very seriously.

Again, Dinah chuckled, but Helena couldn’t find it in herself to try and feel offended. “It is a lot to take in,” Dinah shrugged.

Ah, so she understood, Helena thought. She looked down, at her tightened fists, and explained, “I just have a hard time believing Renee. The end of the world?” Helena made a pause, and maybe Dinah could tell that there was something else upsetting Helena, because she stayed quiet long enough for Helena to just blurt it out. “I saw something else. When she showed me the door and I looked outside. I saw Renee’s truck. I saw… that it looked like it had gotten in a crash recently. There was purple paint smeared on its side, Dinah. Exactly like my bike.” For a moment, Helena closed her eyes and frowned, gathering her thoughts, then added resolutely, “I think she crashed my bike, she abducted me, brought me here against my will. How can I trust her?”

To her credit, Dinah didn’t immediately try to fight her. She nodded, and she thought hard about it for a few moments. Eventually, apparently satisfied with whatever she had to say, she turned toward Helena and explained, “She didn’t trick me into coming here with her or anything, you know? I was waiting for her here when she arrived with you, Helena.” Dinah made a pause, totally not because Helena’s adorably confused frown was a bit distracting.

“I saw it. I mean, I saw _something_ ,” Dinah continued, or at least tried to. She realized it was actually hard to explain. “I saw… a light. It was… incredibly bright, and it covered the sky on the horizon and…” Dinah shook her head, clearly remembering the moment. “I know what you’re thinking. Fireworks, a fire, an explosion, whatever. But no, it was something else. I was unlike anything I’ve ever seen, Helena. And I’ve lived my entire life in Gotham, okay? I’ve seen some weird shit,” Dinah laughed, delighted to have Helena chuckle along.

“I was walking home from work,” Dinah continued, “then I see this light and, Helena, it was like some shit you read in the Bible, watch in movies, read in books. I knew it wasn’t good, I just _knew_ it.” Again, Dinah made a pause. She pulled from behind her ear a cigarette and placed it between her lips. Before Helena could finish asking herself if Renee allowed smoking in her bunker, Dinah had pulled the cigarette away again. “I’m not sure how I managed to remember about Renee’s bunker, but I’m glad as fuck that I did,” Dinah finished her story.

For a few moments, it was just quiet. Dinah just stared as Helena nodded in acknowledgment of her story, mulling it over. She was eager to hear Helena’s reaction, but she was just as content staring at Helena’s profile, the way her hair swayed every time she nodded.

“So… you saw a _light_?” Helena finally said, more skeptical than ever before.

But, if Dinah wasn’t wrong, there was a playful undertone there, which she chose to hang on to. “Oh, fuck you,” she laughed, and lightly shoved Helena’s shoulder with her. She was rewarded with the biggest smile she had seen so far from the other woman. “Wait until you hear Harley’s story then,” Dinah added.

“Well,” Helena rolled her eyes, “You guys _could_ have explained all of this from the beginning but apparently you like the mystery.”

“Oh, is that so?” Dinah laughed, “ _We_ like the mystery, huh? What about you, Miss Bertinelli? Montoya told us all about you.”

At first, Helena managed a feeble chuckle, and she might have blushed when Dinah said her last name. However, she couldn’t really keep her irritability from her voice when she asked, “What did she tell you?”

“You should ask her,” Dinah raised her hands in innocence, “I think she’ll like that though. She was assigned to your case, when she was starting out as a cop, you know? She got a little obsessed, and I think she never gave up. She _loves_ to talk about you.” Dinah rolled her eyes playfully, and she was rewarded with a small smile from Helena. To avoid thinking about how much she liked Helena’s smiles and how maybe she was actively looking to be the reason for them, Dinah added, “And now I can understand why… I see the appeal.”

Helena’s eyes widened almost comically and although she managed not to gasp, her lips parted in surprise. “I- don’t… what, I- what…” she stuttered helplessly for a moment before Dinah tried to end her suffering, or make it worse.

“I mean, you seem really… interesting,” Dinah explained, kind enough to use a mild adjective to save Helena from a heart attack.

“Right… no, I mean- You… you are beautiful,” Helena shrugged nonchalantly, before her brain processed the actual words that ended up coming out of her mouth. She then turned toward Dinah, mortified, getting redder in the face with each passing second, but before she could say anything else that could fix or worsen her situation, they were interrupted.

“Hey! Lovebirds!” Harley called them from her place by the door, smiling wickedly at the pair, “Stop flirting, breakfast is ready!”

Harley immediately disappeared through the hallway, and Dinah laughed as if it was nothing and stood up.

“I _wasn’t_ flirting,” Helena stated very seriously, looking up at Dinah.

“Sure,” Dinah’s smile didn’t waver though.

“And I can’t get up,” Helena frowned. That sentence did confuse Dinah, who mirrored her frown.

“Oh! Right. Your leg,” Dinah exclaimed, and moved closer to give a hand to the other woman. But, once Helena was standing up in front of her, Dinah couldn’t help herself. She stayed in Helena’s personal space for a moment longer than necessary and said in a low voice, “For the record, I _was_ flirting.”

Now, Dinah’s plan was to walk away after impulsively saying that. However, the second she attempted to move away from Helena, the taller woman pretty much started to sway and wobble and she was going straight to the ground if Dinah hadn’t caught her in time, a steadying hand on her hip and one on her arm. “Shit! Helena, are you okay?”

“ _I’m okay!_ ” Helena exclaimed, her voice a slightly higher pitch than necessary. “I’m okay, just, the leg, it’s- yeah, the leg. I’m hurt and, just that, yes. I still need the crutch and you- I- I’m _okay!_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sort of really happy with this chapter. it's the fluff/humor i was looking forward to writing :)
> 
> i really hope you guys enjoy it and like it as well!
> 
> thank you so much for reading!


	8. Harley's exquisite storytelling abilities

That day, breakfast was a surprisingly pleasant moment for the group. The five of them were sitting at the table and during the moments of silence, they felt strangely comfortable with each other’s presence. But, of course, with Harley there, there were little to no moments of silence.

“You two are going to run over my supply of sugar in half the time it was meant for,” Renee grumbled as she eyed, not without a tinge of worry, the way Harley and Cass added yet another spoonful of sugar to their respective bowls of cereal.

Harley shrugged happily, “I bet I could do it in a year,” she said in a sing-song voice, knowing exactly what she was starting.

“ _I_ could do it in six months,” Cass mumbled through a mouthful of cereal.

While Renee and Dinah exchanged concerned looks, Harley’s smile grew in size and wickedness.

“I could dare _Helena_ to do it in a month…” Harley looked down in feigned innocence, playing with her spoon.

Helena immediately perked up in her chair, “Is that a challenge?” she asked, with a voice that was way too serious for the matter at hand.

Harley, and her complete disregard for what exactly an attempt at eating years worth of supply of sugar in a month would do to someone’s health, opened her mouth to set the dare. But thankfully Dinah spoke up first.

“No!” she exclaimed, looking back and forth between both women. “No,” she insisted, a little softer but with more emphasis, staring directly at Helena, who had been looking at the sugar a little too intently.

Helana slumped on her seat, looking defeated, and Dinah wouldn’t admit any time soon how endearing she thought it was. Though the spark of competitiveness and determination was attractive in a whole other way. But then there was also a genuine concern because now Helena was meeting Harley’s eyes and that couldn’t lead to no good. So many layers, Dinah thought.

“So… Harley!” Dinah exclaimed, finding a chance to stir the conversation away from life-threatening dares. They were in the apocalypse, for fucks sake, they didn’t need to raise the stakes. “Helena was wondering about why we’re so sure the world, you know, might have come to a tragic end. Care to share your side of the story?”

“Oh! Yes!” Harley lightly slapped her hands on top of the table and smiled at them. “An opportunity to showcase my exquisite storytelling abilities? It’ll be my pleasure. Ladies, please get comfortable-”

“Don’t even _think_ of putting your dirty feet up on my table!” Renee interrupted her right when Harley had one leg mid-air, caught like a pet in the middle of stealing food from the counter.

“Huh,” Harley looked thoughtful for an instant, “Cass would hold my feet up for me? It’s for dramatic purposes.”

The youngest one of the group only half chuckled, half scoffed, and added, “Fuck off.” Which prompted Renee to reminded of _language_.

“Montoya seriously though,” Harley crossed her arms then,” I’ve been in your cute lil’ bunker for days now. Where the hell could I have dirtied my feet?”

Although Renee simply shrugged, it was Dinah, with a perfectly teasing grin that spoke up. “Well I don’t know how you manage, Harley, but since you’ve been here so far you’ve dropped a diamond, a freaking grenade, and a half-eaten burrito,” Dinah nodded toward the couch then, “That’s without mentioning the seemingly unexplainable splash of glittery pink paint.”

“How…” Helena quietly mumbled to herself as she finished her own breakfast.

Harley only waved it all off, “A failed experiment with a weapon, nothing to worry your sweet heads about.” Then she turned toward Cass and pointed at her quite seriously, “A woman should always make great use of her pockets… or her bra… or sticky tape… don’t forget it!” After a small pause, she leaned back against her chair, got comfortable herself, and asked, “you guys wanted a story, or what?”

Helena hummed thoughtfully, looking down at the empty plate in front of her. “Uh… you know, I’m not so sure anymore-”

“We were in downtown Gotham,” Harley started, very passionately, “now, Cass and I, we were running. Cause that’s what you when you rob something, right? But we only stole it for _someone else_ , that’s our business, you know? So it’s not really robbing, is it?” After disregarding the chorus of _yeah, that’s still stealing, yes_ , Harley went on.

“And, in the back of my mind I’m thinking shit, why is everyone else running too? So _that’s_ when I notice there are like, birds, well just, you know, Gotham’s possibly mutant pigeons, falling from the sky all dead and stuff. And I think, huh, not nice but okay,” at that point, while everyone else nodded with understanding, Helena’s mind was stuck on the plane ticket back to Italy that she still had.

“But _then_ , I see something else fall from the sky, and I’m thinking Nah, that’s probably not Superman or anything. But then, _that’s_ when Cass pointed out that my buddy Batman’s car is all crashed and burning on a random street corner. So I think, what the fuck! Batman drives a stick shift, that’s impractical, right?”

There was a brief pause in the story while Cass went to the bathroom, Renee poured herself a necessary drink, and Helena considered asking for pen and paper to take notes. “Are you going to the point anytime soon, Harley?” Dinah asked.

“Hey, there’s an artistic side to this, okay?” Harley raised both hands in defense and added, “Besides, you already know what happened later! My cold heart started beating because I feel responsible for this little shit, and I decided to find us both a safe place to crash.”

There was a long, uncomfortable moment of silence while everyone started to realize that Harley was done talking. “Right,” Helena finally nodded, and looked at Renee, “Do I get the keys to walk out of here now or what?”

“But the monsters!” Harley exclaimed, as if it was completely obvious.

“ _What?!_ ”

Harley sighed gravely, “Yeah, okay, maybe I forgot that part, whatever.” Then she shrugged but, to her credit, afterward she looked almost completely serious. “That was the reason everyone else was running. Cass didn’t get to see them but I did. There were some really, really strange, fucking ugly, completely terrifying creatures out there, okay? They were… I don’t know, size of a horse, maybe? Super fast, crazy strong, like a fuck up dinosaur or something. I just know… it wasn’t a thing from Gotham. I honestly can’t picture that thing being from this world at all.”

When she finished, Harley was quiet, drawing mindless patterns on the table with her fingers. Helena hadn’t known her for long, but the fact that during that speech it was the first time she heard Harley even remotely… concerned, it was unsettling. When she looked at Dinah and Renee she found a look of helplessness that probably resembled her own face. Harley was the least trustworthy person sitting at that table. All the others had only seen chaos on the streets and a strange light on the sky. Technically, Helena could still leave if she really wanted to, but it was clear nobody else wanted to risk their lives outside.

But, there was another thing. Something unfamiliar enough that it shocked Helena to even recognize it, but it was there. It was there in the way everyone looked at her, waiting for her reaction. They were scared to go out there, but they were also scared for her. They didn’t want her to leave, not when they believed that it’d most likely meant she’d die. They cared. These strangers _cared_ about her, and Helena had no clue how to handle that.

“Okay,” was all the managed to say at last, accompanied with a nod and her slightly awkward attempt at a tight-lipped smile. It was a reassurance. And ti might be the beginning of a promise, but they weren’t ready to think that deep into it just yet.

“Is that an okay, Harley, I accept your dare to eat industrial quantities of sugar in a month? Or are you scared, miss Bertinelli?” Harley laughed, eating a spoonful of sugar herself while all the others laughed wholeheartedly, relaxing in their chairs and exchanging smiles with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!! sorry if this update took too long again. you know... life happened.  
> anyway, thank you so much everyone who's reading!!! i really hope you guys liked this chapter it was a lot of fun to write :)


	9. Apocalypse Fight Club starts five minutes

“We survived the apocalypse,” Cass sighed gravely from her place sprawled on one of the couches of the bunker, “Just to die of starvation!”

“Don’t be overdramatic, kid,” Renee rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to throw something at her. And, she was distracted by the sight of a very displeased Helena Bertinelli sitting on the other sofa, arms crossed and scowl on her face. “You too, Bertinelli?”

Helena pretty much growled in response, “I _am_ hungry, yes. I am used to training every day, and eating enough to have the necessary energy.”

Renee flopped on the other end of the couch, and continued to drink from her glass of whiskey, “The energy to cross the Atlantic and arrange the death of a criminal in Gotham’s prison?”

If looks could kill… “And you’re fucking drunk! So what do you know?!” Helena yelled at the other woman.

“So… hungry…” Cass continued to loudly complain, almost drowning out the noise of the other argument taking place on opposite sides of the bathroom door.

“Harley, I swear! If you don’t come out of there now I will kick down the door and then I’ll kick your clown’s ass!” Dinah yelled. She was beyond knocking on the door and she was seriously considering kicking it down.

“But I am admiring the architecture of this bathroom, Canary!” Harley yelled from the other side, “There’s an adorable shower curtain with a duck on it! Isn’t that- wait, hold on!”

In a swift and, luckily for her, really quick move, Harley yanked open the door, ducked away from Dinah’s rage, and barged into the living room of the bunker.

“Excuse me, ladies,” Harley slowed down, climbed over the back of a couch, and sat down between Helena and Renee, “my mind is playing tricks on me again, though I am arguably sober right now… or did I hear Helena mention a little something about training?”

“Uh,” Helena rightfully hesitated on answering, but not knowing what else to do, she faced Harley’s grin and replied, “Yeah… I‘ve had a daily training routine for years.”

“Do you fight?” Harley inquired then, as casually as if asking about watching a tv show. After receiving a nod from the other woman she added, “I fight too! Hey, wouldn’t that be a fun way to get all this tension out of our homey lil’ bunker?”

“I guess?” Helena tilted her head. She wasn’t sure if Harley was right, but it was true that, being an introvert with severe childhood trauma, Helena wasn’t good with words. Growing up she only knew how to communicate effectively by kicking other kid’s ass in sports, needless to say, she didn’t have many friends. But, fighting was something she was confident she could do, and if it could help her in befriending the people she was bound to spend the end of the world with, then so be it.

“I should say something… I should stop them,” Renee pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers, took a deep breath, and finally stated, “I should take a nap.” She was slowly slipping down on the couch, pretty much already falling asleep.

“Sweet dreams, Montoya!” Harley jumped off the couch in the direction of Helena’s room. “Get sober and then come join us! Cass, let’s go, I want you to place bets on me. Canary! Apocalypse fight club on Berintelli’s room in five!”

Helena trailed after Harley, the hint of a smile playing on her lips as she heard Dinah’s muffled yell from the bathroom, “What the fuck!”

* * *

“Ouch!” Harley scoffed as her back met the floor of the small room on the back of the bunker, “You do _not_ play like we do in Gotham, huh?”

“You mean playing dirty?” Helena smirked, offering a hand to help the other woman up.

“Exactly,” Harley raised her eyebrows and grinned mischievously. She took the taller woman’s hand and this, of course, ended up in her using a probably unethical move turn the tables on Helena and knock her down.

In response, Helena groaned once more, and she was pretty much ready to go tackle Harley to the ground, but a handful of popcorn raining down on her distracted her. “What the fuck?” Helena whispered, turning around to meet Cass and Dinah’s smiles.

“Renee is asleep so I stole something to eat!” Cass proudly announced, falling down casually on a corner of the room with the bowl of popcorn on her legs. Easily distracted, Harley followed suit, diving into the snacks.

“Yeah, and I stopped _you_ from burning the whole place down,” Dinah chuckled, “Also, Cass, we share around here, yeah? You don’t have to keep saying ‘steal’ every time you pick up something.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Are you alright?” Dinah asked, this time addressing Helena, and offering her a hand.

Helena’s eyes widened almost comically, but she accepted the help up from the floor. “Sure, yes, perfectly fine,” she mumbled, nervously dusting off her hands on her pants and immediately missing the feeling of Dinah’s hand on hers. After one more moment of awkwardness on her part, she finally looked up to meet Dinah’s amused but always sweet brown eyes.

“Okay, my money is on Canary,” Harley said, mouth full of popcorn, “Cass?”

“No way!” the kid shook her head emphatically, “I bet Helena wins.”

“ _Huh?!_ ” Helena looked back an forth between Dinah and their audience. This wasn’t good.

“What do you think?” Dinah tilted her head and smiled at Helena, “One harmless match?”

Oh, that was even worse, Helena thought. “Sure…” she ended up saying, against her better judgment.

As the fight started, Helena found herself with plenty of confusing feelings. On one hand, and unlike a minute ago with Harley, the last thing Helena wanted was to hurt her opponent, so she was mostly dodging Dinah’s hits. On the other hand, Harley had been right in that this was distracting them from their issues with coexisting in a bunker together. Personally, she was starting to feel more at ease with her company, and she could see that Dinah was no longer angry and yelling at Harley, but instead looking confident, relaxed, as if she was genuinely having fun. The problem was, Dinah was also smiling at Helena. And that smile was terribly distracting.

“Hmph,” Helena grunted as one of Dinah’s kicks made contact with her stomach. But, fortunately, or not, depending on how she looked at it, Helena had quick reflexes. This meant that her hands had captured Dinah’s raised leg, leaving them in a sort of uncomfortable position. Usually, someone in Helena’s position would have used that moment to get the upper hand on the fight. But in this case, Helena, painfully aware of the heat between her fingers and the length of Dinah’s leg, could only meet Dinah’s eyes and mumble, “Sorry.” Then, of course, it got worse. Because Dinah, apparently equally as unsettled by the unexpected intimacy of the contact, reacted with her reflexes, and tried to punch Helena. But then it was Helena’s turn to react almost mechanically. She was a fighter, she knew how to dodge that punch, and her body simply acted fast. Before any of them knew very well what had just happened, both of them were down on the floor, Helena on top of Dinah, looking like a deer caught in the headlights, and whispering one soft, “Sorry.”

While those two got lost in that little moment, a chuckle sounded from the door of the room, “Are you sure the kid should be seeing this?” Renee asked Harley, drawing laughter from her and Cass.

“Montoya, you’re back!” Harley clapped and jumped to her feet again, “Let’s do this, shall we? I wanna see if you could realistically arrest me or if you don’t stand a chance. Make it sexy, will ya?”

“Is it too late to kick you out of my bunker?”

Helena and Dinah made their way to the corner where Cass was still enjoying the popcorn. They were both blushing, still breathing a little raggedly, and they sat on opposite sides of the youngest of the group, as if the distance would be enough to keep their feelings at bay. But it seemed unavoidable that the moment they reached out to grab some popcorn their hands brushed, worsening their blushing situation. Meanwhile, Harley proved that she was more difficult to catch than Renee had imagined, and Renee proved that she could hit way harder than Harley had expected. It was overall a very entertaining afternoon, and maybe none of them was very knowledgeable in healthy coping mechanisms, but if this could keep them sane during the apocalypse, they’d happily kick each other’s asses every now and then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how do you cope with being locked in an apocalyptic bunker with four strangers? you don't ;)
> 
> thanks so much everyone for reading and leaving comments!! 
> 
> (i posted this one as soon as possible but i can't promise i know when the next update will come so bare with me pls thank youu)


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